Tyler James Williams makes the right choice

Tyler James Williams has had a winning season.

A Screen Actors Guild award that he and his “Abbott Elementary” cast mates won for their work on the ABC mockumentary about an underfunded public school in Philadelphia. Williams A Golden Globe for best supporting actor for his own performance in the series, as Gregory Eddie, a substitute teacher who finds a sense of purpose and permanence in the job.

And, as he took the Globes stage, a standing ovation from Eddie Murphy.

“The award is great — I appreciate it. But that did more for me than anything ever could,” Williams admitted in a video call from Los Angeles. Williams, 30, has also morphed into something of a heartthrob in the role, which the “Abbott Elementary” creator Quinta Brunson, whom he'd met on “A Black Lady Sketch Show,” wrote for him after they became lockdown pals.

All of the accolades don't overshadow what he considers his most significant achievement. “We haven't seen characters like Gregory and Janine” — a teacher played by Brunson with whom Gregory has a slow-burn kind of thing — “exist on television,” Williams said.

“There's not a heavy trauma story line. It's just Black people living everyday lives and seeing the beauty in that,” he added. “Very rarely do we see that recognized in the awards platforms, so that for me is what I hope that win does.”

Still, Williams, who has Crohn's disease, may have never arrived at this moment had he not had a near-fatal flare-up when he was 23. “When I came out of the other side of it, I realized I had a choice,” he said. “I could be really busy and try to make a bunch of money. Or I could do things that felt like my heart was just bathed.”